Hot Topics:

David Ehrenberger: An abdication of duty by the GOP

Posted:
12/23/2017 07:05:05 PM MST

As a concerned citizen, I am horrified by the "compromise" Senate-House tax bill signed into law by the president last week. I understand from Sen. Gardner's recent email newsletter that he believes this to be a windfall for Colorado taxpayers. I disagree profoundly. We as a nation desperately need "tax reform," one that is progressive and that funds the critical infrastructure and services of a modern and prosperous democratic government. The present legislation fails on all accounts: its benefits accrue to the wealthy and the corporate, at the very time that both are realizing great profits with a thriving stock market and virtual full employment. The short-term tax benefits to the middle class reflect legislative expediency — a disingenuous political ploy that leaves our future in peril. It commits us — all of us — to a tragic path to massive national indebtedness over the coming years. The consequent dwindling federal capacity to fund our aging infrastructure, systems of education, health care for those most in need (even Medicare!), and innovative research and innovation will mean our children, my children, and our descendants will bear the burden. This unilateral and cloistered effort by congressional Republicans to accomplish "anything" will lead us to a future marked by explosive income disparity and on a solid path to a legacy of "America Last." This is not leadership. This is abdication of duty.

Numbers suggest desire is greater than ever to have a CHSAA-sanctioned female divisionClarissa Batrez is a wrestler, not a girl who wrestles. Her father and older brother both wrestled so Batrez was raised in a wrestling environment all her life. Batrez speaks glowingly of the sport and loves that it gives her a competitive avenue through which she can channel her "inner power" and natural aggression. Full Story

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story